Are you one of the many people living with fibromyalgia? If so, you know how challenging it can be to manage day-to-day life with this chronic condition.
Thankfully, there are ways to make your life a little easier – like juicing!
Juicing is a great way to get all the nutrients your body needs, and it can be tailored to fit your specific dietary needs. Here are some tips for juicing if you have fibromyalgia.
This blog is supported by its readers. This post contains Amazon affiliate links, and I may receive a commission if you click at no extra cost. Affiliate Disclosure
Firstly, it's important to know that there is no "number one" Fibromyalgia diet.
Still, it's most often recommended to eat a whole food diet, avoiding processed foods, added sugar, and common trigger foods such as gluten, lactose, and nightshade vegetables.
A nutritious fibromyalgia diet is enhanced by juicing. Juices are a delicious and powerful way to get concentrated nutrients from fruits and vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables, which are high in fiber and antioxidants, appear to be very helpful for fibromyalgia. Antioxidants help rid our system of free radicals, which create oxidative stress, a harmful by-product that may contribute to fibromyalgia symptoms.
Fruits and vegetables also are well known to boost the immune system, essential to maintaining good health and supporting the management of fibromyalgia.
One of the best features of fruits and vegetables is that they help reduce inflammation! These include, in particular, the colorful ones rich in antioxidants such as carotenoids, flavonoids, and vitamins A, E, and C.
Many fruits and vegetables also contain a fiber called pectin. Pectin helps the body remove excess fats and toxins. Another significant benefit of pectin is that it helps with digestion. When your digestion works well, you will efficiently absorb more nutrients into your body.
Good fruit or vegetables like papaya, apples, or spinach helps regulate blood sugar while allowing you to pass many of the other things you’ve eaten in 24 hours.
Pectin is a water-soluble fiber that attracts particles to be disposed of by eliminating waste. Protein and minerals are also highly accessible by the body from fruit and vegetables.
REDUCE WATER WEIGHT
A balanced diet should also help you have the proper moisture distribution in your body. When fluids pools in the body, it can contribute heavily to circulation issues caused by extra water weight pressing into things while sitting, lying down, etc.
Watery vegetables like cucumber and citrus fruit help stimulate the body to get rid of excess fluid, thus bringing down some weight. Riding excess fluid also helps eliminate toxins swept up by pectin and other water-soluble fibers.
DELICIOUS & NUTRITIOUS INGREDIENTS
SPINACH
Using spinach in juice is an easy way to get extra iron and other nutrients in your diet.
Spinach is a good source of iron and vitamin K, and one of its most important uses is to decrease inflammation.
So if you add a handful of spinach to your green juice recipe, you’ll have a greener, more powerful drink that can help you bring down any sudden swelling that you might experience.
BLUEBERRIES
Blueberries are tiny sweet purple berries that are rich in antioxidants. They are known for their brain-boosting benefits, helping improve memory and focus.
In addition, they add a wonderful flavor to just about any juice you choose to put them in. They are low in carbs while leaving a lasting impression that you’ll love.
But, of course, you can also freeze them for a tasty snack! Another option is to use strawberries or raspberries, with even fewer carbs than blueberries.
CHERRIES
Cherries are an excellent source of nutrients that aid joint health. For example, these red fruits are a top source of anthocyanins that reduce inflammation and protect against gout (an inflammatory form of arthritis).
In addition, one study found that cherry consumption lowered blood levels of uric acid, which can accumulate in joints, causing pain.
PAPAYA
Papaya has twice the amount of vitamin C as an orange. In addition, papaya contains a potent enzyme called papain. Health benefits of papain include reducing inflammation, easing constipation and bloating, and reducing muscle soreness after exercise.
Papaya has a gently sweet, calming flavor. Don’t miss a chance to try this fruit in your favorite green juice recipe.
MANGO
This orange-colored fruit is probably the sweetest fruit on this list. Mangos are well known for their bold and exciting flavor and are excellent in sweet dessert dishes. They are also rich in vitamins C and high in antioxidants.
In addition, mangoes are great for digestion and high in fiber and water, which can help relieve chronic constipation.
PINEAPPLE
This sweet tropical fruit is an exciting and flavorful addition to any juice combo you can think of and is packed with nutrients. For example, pineapples contain a fantastic enzyme called bromelain.
Bromelain has many benefits, including reducing inflammation and swelling, easing digestion, and can help ease joint pain and relieve muscle soreness.
You can take bromelain as a supplement, but the Dole Nutrition Institute discovered that fresh or frozen pineapple has as much bromelain activity as supplements.
Pineapples also provide an excellent source of vitamin C, which helps improve iron absorption, and manganese, which supports metabolism and bone density.
JUICE COMBOS YOU WILL LOVE
GINGER, CARROT, GREEN JUICE
Carrots and apples are a delicious, nutritious combo. Apples help the vitamins and minerals absorbed more efficiently in the body. In addition, pectin helps increase circulation.
Ginger also helps improve the condition of your gut and helps maintain a balanced population of good bacteria.
Take four carrots, ½ of an apple, and a thumbnail-sized piece of ginger, and place them into a juicer. Chill and serve.
PINEAPPLE CUCUMBER GREEN JUICE
Apples are invigorating; anti-inflammatory pineapple combined with refreshing cucumber makes a powerful juice combo. In addition, cucumber is hydrating and a fantastic source of potassium and vitamin C.
Toss 4 - 5 large pineapple cubes into a juicer with half a cucumber and half an apple. Chill and serve as quickly as possible because fresh juice like this will lose its potency throughout the week.
JUICING TIPS
PREP A WEEK'S WORTH OF JUICE
Juicing prep can be time-consuming, peeling fruit and vegetables and cutting them up.
If you have to do that entire process every time you want a juice, you most likely won't have the energy to do the prep—the same goes for the juice clean-up with cleaning the juicer. So let's discuss how to prep for a week's worth of juice.
The easiest option is to buy pre-cut fruit and vegetables.
The next option is to make your own prepped fruits and vegetables.
The only thing you have to do is pick the fruits and vegetables you want, prep them, and place them into Ziploc bags. You might want to put prepped fruit and vegetables in their own bag.
Alternatively, if you know the combinations you want for your juices, you can set the combination of prepared fruit and vegetable into the Ziploc bag.
Next, put the Ziploc bags into the freezer. Be sure to write on the Ziploc bag your juice ingredients so you’ll have an easy time making a selection.
Freezing fruit and veggies can save you money if you buy fruit in season and in bulk.
USE STORAGE CONTAINERS
You can also put your preselected fruits and veggies into containers to store in the fridge, which can be easily accessed when loading the juicer.
MASON JAR APPROACH
If you love to use mason jars, storing your prepared ingredients in a mason jar in the fridge could be an enjoyable way to keep your drinks for the week.
One significant advantage of this over the Ziploc bags is that you can dump the mixture into your juicer and then pour the juice back into the mason jar.
BUY WATERY FRUIT & VEGETABLES
Some fruit and vegetables have very little water content. You want to ensure that you’re getting something out of the fruits you buy so that you don’t have to juice an entire bag just for one glass.
Use watery fruit and vegetables as your base for your juice, such as cucumbers and citrus fruits.
BUY LOW-COST PRODUCE
A money-saving strategy is to buy fruits and vegetables in season; they are usually found in surplus and, therefore, more affordable. Find out what's in season.
There are farmers' markets that sell very fresh produce, and people will often sell large amounts for low prices to make sure that they are making money on a crop.
Most stores have sales due to surplus, which can be a great time to stock up on an excellent high-moisture fruit to use in your juicing.
GROW YOUR FRUIT & VEGETABLES
If you have a small amount of land, even just a patch of space backyard or a community garden where they can grow, it can be gratifying and satisfying to grow your produce.
Of course, much of what you need is relatively affordable, even with small investments to get ready for growth, but having a small crop on the head of fresh produce will pay for itself very quickly.
Even hydroponic systems can grow several vegetables in shorter periods while yielding juicy produce that you’ll love.
Helpful Products:
